Qualitative MRI: evidence of usual aging in the brain

The understanding of aging in our society with steadily increasing life expectancy is an important challenge in medical science since socioeconomic pressure increases in parallel. Magnetic resonance imaging is a most useful tool to explore age related changes in the central nervous system especially in the brain. This article will focus on current knowledge and importance of such changes. Special attention will paid to white matter hyperintensities in terms of occurrence and progression and cerebral microbleeds in terms of their association to various diseases and their possible influence on thrombolytic therapy. Furthermore the meaning of darkening of the basal ganglia will be discussed and, in more general terms, the occurrence of virchow robin spaces and changes in cerebral metabolites assessable by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.